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NJDOE INTENT ON CLOSING SCHOOLS SERVING STUDENTS OF COLOR

May 22, 2012

The
NJ Department of Education (NJDOE) under Acting Commissioner Christopher Cerf is
gearing up to intervene in 75 predominately Black and Latino “Priority” Schools,
action that could lead to massive school closings within three years. The
schools targeted by NJDOE for closure are in very poor neighborhoods across the
state and have served these communities for decades.

The
NJDOE plan for “aggressive intervention” and potential school closures is the
centerpiece of a new “accountability” initiative launched by the Christie
Administration after obtaining a U.S. Department of Education waiver from
certain provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2011. The
waiver allows NJDOE to use test scores and graduation rates to create three new
classifications of schools: “Priority,” “Focus” and “Reward.”

Priority
Schools are targeted for immediate intervention by the NJDOE, including
replacing principals, reassigning teachers and restructuring curriculum. If
these schools do not “improve” quickly – or within two years – the NJDOE can
order the school closed or converted into a charter school. Focus Schools face
similar interventions, but have more time to improve. Reward Schools receive
bonus funding, including federal Title 1 funds that can be shifted from other
high poverty schools.

In
early April, NJDOE released the list of schools in the new classifications. An
ELC analysis of the list shows:

75
schools are classified as Priority Schools based on low scores on state
standardized tests; 97% of the students attending these schools are Black and
Latino, 81% are poor, and 7% are English language learners.

183
schools are classified as Focus Schools based on low graduation rates or large
gaps on state tests; 72% of the students in these schools are black and
Hispanic, 63% are poor, and 10% are English language learners.

112
schools are classified as Reward Schools based on high achievement or high levels
of growth on state tests; 20% of the students in these schools are black and
Hispanic, 15% are poor, and 2% are English language learners.

Priority
Schools – those potentially targeted for closing – are almost all Black and
Latino, very poor, with many students who do not speak English as a first
language. The student mobility rate in Priority Schools is a staggering 24%. These
schools are located in some of the poorest communities in the state.

Reward
Schools – those receiving financial bonuses – are clustered in the highest
wealth districts in the state and serve a small percentage of Black and Latino
students. These schools also have low poverty rates, few English language
learners and little student mobility. Many of the Reward Schools are magnet
high schools and vocational schools with highly selective admissions.

"Under
the guise of accountability, the State has singled out public schools serving
predominately Black and Latino students in poor neighborhoods for disparate
treatment in its most extreme form – closing the schools altogether,” said
David Sciarra, ELC Executive Director. “Equally alarming is the State's
decision to financially reward schools in affluent communities with very few
at-risk students and students with special needs.”

"NJDOE
has constructed a perverse system of school punishment and rewards that will do
nothing to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for the most at-risk
students in our state,” Mr. Sciarra concluded. “The new system is a throwback
to the days when State policies worked to reinforce the intense racial and
socio-economic segregation in New Jersey's public schools.”